Social disadvantage in rural peripheries in Czechia and in eastern Germany: opportunity structures and individual agency in a comparative perspective

该项目调查了捷克和德国东部具有特殊经济和人口问题的农村地区（农村边缘地区）的社会不利条件、地方和区域机会结构和个人机构之间的相互关系。该项目侧重于两组研究问题。第一部分涉及农村地区一般的社会不利条件和剥夺的空间格局，以及更具体地说，农村边缘地区社会不利条件和机会结构的程度和普遍形式。第二组要求作为地方和区域居住环境一部分的这种机会结构（例如社会网络或劳动力市场和教育设施的可及性）对社会处境不利群体的影响以及机会结构与个人机构之间的相互依赖关系。第一步，两个小组对所有农村地区进行以地区为基础的统计二级分析，以确定捷克和德国东部的农村外围地区，分析地方和区域机会结构的可用性和可及性，并调查正在进行的农村结构调整进程。在此基础上，工作队将在捷克和德国东部两个最好是截然不同的农村地区就社会不利条件、机会结构和个人机构之间的相互关系进行深入的个案研究。这将通过混合方法设计来完成，结合与区域利益攸关方的专家访谈和与社会弱势群体成员的定性问题中心访谈。这一研究步骤还将包括调查以自我为中心的网络和社会弱势行动者的时空活动模式。通过后续访谈，将收集关于机会结构、社会网络和个人机构之间相互关系的深入信息。所有项目步骤都将以捷克和德国研究伙伴的密切合作为基础。小组将在共同讨论中解释产生的数据，以比较的方式确定农村边缘地区社会不利的因素和过程，并找出捷克和德国东部之间的共同点和差异。该项目具有创新性，因为它分析了农村边缘地区地方和区域机会结构对个人机构和社会弱势群体的实际相关性，并从跨国角度和多方法设计进行了社会融合。因此，它将在概念上、方法上和经验上为关于外围化和农村结构调整的辩论作出贡献。

The project investigates the interrelations between social disadvantage, local and regional opportunity structures and individual agency in rural regions with particular economic and demographic problems (rural peripheries) in Czechia and eastern Germany. The project focuses on two sets of research questions. The first set concerns the spatial patterns of social disadvantage and deprivation in rural areas in general, as well as the extent and prevailing forms of social disadvantage and opportunity structures in rural peripheries more specifically. The second set asks for the impact of such opportunity structures (e.g., social networks or the accessibility of labour markets and education facilities) as part of the local and regional residential context on socially disadvantaged groups and the interdependencies between opportunity structures and individual agency. In a first step, both teams conduct area-based statistical secondary analyses of all rural areas to identify rural peripheries in Czechia and in eastern Germany, to analyse the availability and accessibility of local and regional opportunity structures and to investigate ongoing processes of rural restructuring. Based on that, the teams will conduct in-depth case studies in two preferably distinct rural peripheries each in Czechia and eastern Germany with regard to the interrelations between social disadvantage, opportunity structures and individual agency. This will be done with a mixed-methods design combining expert interviews with regional stakeholders and qualitative problem-centred interviews with members of socially disadvantaged groups. This research step will also include the investigation of ego-centred networks and time-space activity patterns of socially disadvantaged actors. By means of follow-up interviews, in-depth information on the interrelations between opportunity structures, social networks and individual agency will be collected.All project steps will be based on a close cooperation of the Czech and the German research partners. The teams will interpret the generated data in common discussions to identify factors and processes of social disadvantage in rural peripheries in a comparative way and to find commonalities and differences between Czechia and eastern Germany. The project is innovative as it analyses the actual relevance of local and regional opportunity structures in rural peripheries for individual agency and social integration of socially disadvantaged groups in a cross-national perspective and with a multi-method design. It will, thus, conceptually, methodologically and empirically contribute to the debates on peripheralisation and rural restructuring.